"My partner was taken ill recently ..."

My partner was taken ill recently with severe abdominal pain. He was advised on three seperate occasions by NHS direct and his own doctor to immediatley attend A+E... Well, what a waste of time that was! On all three occasions he was sent home still in agony.

The way he was treated by the staff was absolutely disgusting and ranged from blind ignorance to just downright rudeness.

The third ocassion he was actually sent by his own GP. He was given a cubicle immediately by the triage nurse, after an hour of waiting there, with no pain relief he was sent back to the waiting room for another hour, still with no painkillers. I rang his GP at this point who asked that the doctor who had seen him in A+E to contact him immediately, it took her a further two hours to get round to it, after much protest by her, i might add, and by that time his GP had gone home for the evening.

My partners GP also advised that I speak to someone in charge. I asked the A+E doctor if she could arrange this for me and I was given a downright no, I couldnt only his GP could.

The staff were rude, unprofessional and uncaring and the outcome was my partner was again sent home without any pain relief, still not any-the-wiser about his condition.

We managed two days after to get a further appointment with my partners GP who immediatley phoned up the hospital and managed to book an appointment for an assessment with a doctor on T2. He was admitted after a short chat and examination and at last something has got done!

Anyway, the question was "What I liked?"... In short nothing to do with A+E. There methods of patient care are appauling and uncaring. They have bad communication skills and listening skills.

On the good side though the nursing and doctoring staff on T2 were excellent. I think the staff on A+E could do with taking a leaf out of T2s book!!!

What could be improved

Communication skills by A+E staff

Listening skills

Attitude

Actually believing that your patient is in pain

Administering pain relief when needed

Communicating with GP as a matter of urgency when indicated

Decrease waiting time in A+E

Making patients comfortable

Listening to relatives when worried about condition

Listening to patient when worried about condition

Anything else?

I have remained anonymous as a formal complaint is in the process of being written.

Responses

We were sorry to hear of the problems experienced by your partner and yourself relating to attendances at A&E. Your formal complaint will give us the opportunity to enquire into the circumstances more thoroughly and you will receive a full response.

Your comments relating to T2 are appreciated and will be passed on to the ward.